Whether you have read Bike Tribes, by Mike Magnuson, or not, chances are you have observed that there many different types of bicyclists. Magnuson has in fact identified about 20 groupings of bicyclists, and he argues convincingly that we need to respect each other, as well as motorists and pedestrians, and learn to get along.

My point from what he writes is that it really doesn’t matter what kind of bicycle you might want to ride. No one of them is better than the other, if it is doing what the rider wants it to do. A little child on a shiny red trike is perfectly happy. A chic city girl riding in heels on her way to work would never ride a bicycle if the only thing available were a clip-equipped road bike. And pizza delivery is really not very efficient unless you’re riding a work bicycle. I have no desire to ride a mountain bike at all, but I would have to be blind not to see how much the mountain bike riders love their steeds. Continue reading →

Two weeks ago, I answered the question “why do I ride?”

On that subject, I have to admit that I am not all that impressive as a cyclist. This week, the Freewheeling Freelancer was added to the open Facebook group, Bicycle Touring Websites. I already knew that there were many cyclists who ride more than I do. I was amazed at how many cyclists of all ages were riding around the world like cancer patient Walter Judson Moore, or toting their young families from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, like the Sathre-Vogel family (www.familyonbikes.org). Granted, most are touring (going out and coming home, with work or school suspended), but there are hundreds of cyclists out there who are living on the road, with small children, spouses, pets, etc. And some of them have been out there for years.

Some of them are following this blog, which I find very humbling.

Returning to the theme of why, let’s ask, “Why should anyone else?” Only I am not looking at just the question, “why ride a bicycle?” but the subject of this blog, “why live and work on the road?” Continue reading →

Sunset was still more than three hours away, but the light was fading fast outside the little window to my room. I shut down my computer, slipped into my bicycle shoes and a rain jacket, and threw my fleece jacket, a scarf and a hat into the pannier. It was still warm, because the clouds had only just rolled in. Continue reading →